Bender: nothing consequential really happens in ADWD?

Understood, but all I'm saying is that even in the days before CGI, the solution would not have been to use a pack of real wolves; 9 times out of 10 they would've just used dogs (Rin Tin Tin was famous for wolf roles and he was a freaking German Shepherd). It's suspension of disbelief either way.

I'm still cracking up about the less-than-half-assed Nazi salute he gave to Simon. "Yeah, whatever."

If you liked The Dosadi Experiment you might also like Whipping Star, which is set in the same universe but is much weirder and often pretty funny. It's funny in a Frank Herbert way though, meaning that even when he's tossing out ideas that are totally goofy (like the situation the title refers to— a really bizarre…

Sort of. The humans are volunteers who have joined a mad science community and been mentally modified to be ant-like (some are worker drones, some are fighters, etc.), because the mad scientist— who's supposed to be the same guy who narrated this movie— believes that's the only way for humanity to survive. There's a…

Moomins are timeless. I like the comic strips a lot, but the illustrated storybooks are still my favorite; the art in them is stunningly beautiful in a way that the comic strips just didn't have room for, and I'm a sucker for Jansson's prose too.

DUNGEON, a French series that's had about a dozen collections translated so far, is awesome. It's a funny-animal epic fantasy thing, sometimes totally goofy and sometimes pretty dark— there are 4 or 5 sub-series with different artists doing them in different styles. I can't think of anything wrong with these books,…

I just assumed that Peter's power only worked on Simon, because Simon was more or less a superhero, whereas the other kids didn't really resemble anything in Peter's fantasy world.

"Vera’s behavior is irrational, even for a crazy bitch"… Totally disagree; she's not crazy or irrational, she's just an asshole. Bates has just inherited money and even if he'd agree to give her some of it to go away, she'd prefer to stick around, be taken care of, and have the social status of a married woman rather…

That episode was pretty well done, but the original story of the same name (by James Tiptree Jr., aka Alice Sheldon) is a stone classic and, if possible, even creepier. The most disturbing thing about it is that the affected men aren't raving zombies, they just feel like this is the thing to do and they rationalize it…

If by feminists you mean the Amazons, for me that part would've been offensive except it was so over-the-top stupid that it came across as a genre parody, of the "if I were a really crappy writer and a Rush Limbaugh fan, I'd write some characters like THIS!" kind. Whether that was Vaughn's intention or not, I have no…

Yeah, that's the kind of thing that makes me hate most of Anthony Lane's reviews. If he doesn't like the movie, then everything about it gets described with equal scorn as if we're supposed to find the mere idea automatically terrible and hilarious, even if the idea is (a) original and potentially interesting, or (b)…

Okay, I'll probably have to pick this up again and finish it. I stopped around book 5 because that's all my friend had who was loaning them to me, and as much as I was into the story, it pissed me off enough that I couldn't imagine buying it. Mainly the dialogue, which seemed really artificial— I don't mind that…

Oh yeah, also, it was just beautifully paced - not one second more than necessary for each of the turns in the conversation. As soon as you start to react to the Ikea/pedophile bit, then Nathan's on to something else and then it's "Never fuck a wounded bear!", and it seems like it's going to just keep building and…

Nathan confronting his dad…
Every other "I will now tell you off for your past wrongs" child/parent shouting scene I've ever seen has been terrible. So why was this one so awesome? 1. Fucking good acting by the dad— I totally bought that he was grieving and feeling guilty about both the kids and extra-guilty about…

Anonymous Nerdy Queermo, you don't have to date girls to know that the "girls are no fun, they don't like nerdy things" stereotype is bullshit— a lot like the other idea that your friend probably knows all about, that male jocks aren't into nerdy things. At least 3/4 of the Doctor Who fans I know are women. One of…